A Glendale man was identified as the alleged ringleader of a lucrative heroin trafficking ring that operated in Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson.
Mohamed Chaaibi, 27, of Glendale, allegedly supplied numerous quantities of heroin and coordinated all the transactions by taking calls from buyers and sending couriers to prearranged locations where sales were conducted.
Chaaibi was among nine defendants charged in a 281-count indictment with conspiracy, sale and possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a weapon for their involvement in the drug ring. Thompson announced the indictment Tuesday along with Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New York Division Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt.
“There’s a growing heroin epidemic spreading throughout our city and country that’s destroying lives and families,” Thompson said. “This is the second heroin distribution operation that we dismantled in recent months and we intend to continue to do our part to save lives by taking down anyone who deals heroin in Brooklyn.”
Also named in the indictment were Ridgewood’s Dixon Mercado, 42, and Brandon Alvarez, 20, along with Miguel Alcaide, 30, of Brownsville, Brooklyn. Prosecutors said they allegedly acted as runners or couriers who supplied heroin to other named defendants who then re-sold it to their own customers.
Kimberly Wong, 32, of Ridgewood– a real estate broker– allegedly helped Chaaibi with the proceeds of the narcotic sales, according to prosecutors. It is alleged that Wong also assisted him in finding cheap properties for rent and kept a stash of heroin in her residence to use when his runners ran low.
Finally, Marius Kaczmarczyk, 39, of Maspeth, allegedly tested the product for Chaaibi and report back his findings.
“Chaaibi used legitimate business marketing for illegitimate drug sales,” Hunt said. “By branding his cut of heroin ‘Two Way,’ he attracted and retained customers; some who drove far distances in order to purchase his product in bulk for resale on the street.”
Thompson said the investigation, which began in September 2014, was conducted using electronic, video and physical surveillance. Cell phone conversations that were intercepted during the course of the investigation showed that the defendants repeatedly discussed the quality of the heroin, customers’ assessment of its potency and its effectiveness when consumed by snorting it versus shooting it with a needle.
Police executed a search warrant at Chaaibi’s residence and recovered a loaded .380 firearm and drug paraphernalia with heroin residue. Another raid at one of the ring’s stash house recovered approximately 13 ounces of uncut heroin, about 2,000 glassines of heroin marked with their “Two Way” brand, drug paraphernalia and over 20 cell phones. Six guns were also recovered during the course of the investigation.
Each of the defendants face a maximum sentence of up to life in prison if convicted of the top count with which they are charged. Several others are still at large, prosecutors noted.
